Drug smugglers have managed to miss out on a shipment of cocaine after it was delivered to a number of Czech supermarkets before it had the chance to be intercepted in Germany.
Cops in Czech Republic seized a huge haul, with an estimated street value of around $83 million (£67.5m), after workers at several supermarkets in the country discovered the blocks of cocaine hidden among crates of bananas.
In footage shared by Czech police, a sniffer dog can be seen checking out a shipment of bananas that were reportedly sent from Colombia.
The cocaine was in pressed, plastic covered blocks and had come into the country through Hamburg, before eventually arriving in Czech Republic.
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Retail staff in supermarkets in Prague, Jicin and Rychnov nad Kněžnou are all said to have contacted authorities after making the discovery, who promptly sent out cops to check out the claims.
In a statement, Czech police confirmed the drugs had been found stashed away in crates of bananas.
In a tweet posted on Friday 10 June, Czech police said: "Supermarket workers found moulded cocaine cubes in boxes with bananas this afternoon.”
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A statement went on to reveal that the drugs had been sent to ‘several other places’ in the country.
"Criminal investigators found that goods of the same batch were distributed to several other places in the Czech Republic,” it read.
"Therefore, in cooperation with the [Customs Administration of the Czech Republic] and other entities, it is currently conducting inspections of these places and other actions."
Police in Czech Republic have said they are now working with police internationally to help further their investigation.
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A statement said: "Information about consignments is kept outside the territory of the Czech Republic, for this reason we will use the institute of international police and judicial cooperation.
"The case was taken over by the National Drug Control Center, which will conduct the investigation. We will provide more information as soon as possible."
As yet, it’s unclear where the drugs were originally destined, and for now the investigation remains ongoing.
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A recent report from the United Nations found that cocaine manufacturing has ‘reached record levels’.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said: “The output of global cocaine manufacture doubled between 2014 and 2019 to reach an estimated 1,784 tons (expressed at 100 percent purity) in 2019, the highest level ever recorded."
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Topics: World News, Drugs, Crime
Claire Reid